


Research Purposes

by UnderTheGrave



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Additional Warning in Author's Note, Anal Sex, Fluff, Gay Panic, Keith is especially annoyed with Lance, Keith sings k-pop in the shower, Lance becomes totally obsessed with Keith, M/M, Oral Sex, Porn with Feelings, They're really hopeless, maybe kinda funny
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-30
Updated: 2016-08-15
Packaged: 2018-07-27 14:47:09
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7622827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnderTheGrave/pseuds/UnderTheGrave
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In retrospect, Lance knew he was overreacting. Thinking about it just a little too hard.  He just didn't consider Keith would ever be- Nah, actually, he wasn't that surprised... Did that mean Keith had totally been checking him out? Did he think he was hot? Would dudes be into him? What was it like to mess around with dudes? Was Keith experienced with that sort of thing? He just needed to know. For... science?<br/>(In which Keith mentions something that reveals he's gay, Lance is excessively shocked, and everyone else already knew because it wasn't even a secret. In short, Lance is an oblivious idiot and finally accepts his bisexuality.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Brief warning: This piece may contain some bits of internalized homophobia, internalized biphobia, and gay panic amongst the group and Lance himself. Please be wary if those bother you.

It was an average "evening" on the Altean castle ship. Of course, "evenings" didn't exist in the void of space, but Coran had been considerate enough to set up a time schedule similar to Earth's rotation. It gave the Paladins a sense of time. Belonging. Around the hour night fell back home- thousands of light years away with current human technology- the glowing lights throughout the ship would gradually dim to a deep galaxy blue.

It was some time in winter, since the lights would dim earlier in the evening rather than later, like in summer. The gang was gathered around the table for their usual unspectacular serving of green slime. The room wasn't brightly lit, but would not be completely dimmed like the night sky for another few hours. It was dinner time. Lance was slumped in his seat with his arms crossed. He'd picked at his food goo but barely touched it.

"Lance, aren't you hungry?" Allura questioned, genuine curiosity laced in her pleasant tone. The Alteans just didn't seem to understand the concept of enjoying different flavors; they just ate their gravy-like goo for nearly every meal aside from special occasions.

"Yeah. You trained hard today," Shiro added from the far end of the table. Lance glanced his way and fought the urge to make a face. "Get your energy back up."

He knew Shiro and the others hated having the same thing for- How long had it been? Months? A few months. How could Shiro put on such an encouraging, knowing smile? How did he know Lance would rather vomit than ever see green space gravy again, yet still encourage him to force it down his throat?

He didn't have the heart to scowl and complain. He put on a smile and waved his hand around dismissively.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm okay. I was just thinking about how great pizza sounds right now."

"Oh, dude, don't even talk about pizza," Hunk groaned to his left, slumping dejectedly against the table.

"Pizza?" Allura repeated with a quirked brow. Coran joined her in eyeing Lance expectantly. Lance held a straight face and he shoveled his serving of food goo into his mouth. Might as well get it over with.

" _Mph_ yeah, piffa-"

"Nasty. Don't talk with your mouth full," Keith cut in from his right.

Lance instantly turned on him, squinting indignantly. He gulped everything down.

"Aw, does that gross you out, Princess Number 2?"

Keith shot him one of his darkest scowls and wordlessly ripped his focus away.

Ha, nicknames like that always seemed to work. Lance crossed his arms in satisfaction and continued.

"Pizza. Or tacos. Or, you know..." Anything other than food goo.

"Can't say I disagree," Pidge added in.

"Yeah. Lance! You remember that time we ordered a pizza from the town miles over and they actually tried delivering it to us outside of the gate?"

"Yeah, and the delivery fee costed so much we couldn't pay for it!" Lance belted out laughing, slapping Hunk on the back. "We got caught too. It sucked."

"If I had to bring that out to you two, I seriously would have killed you," Pidge stated dryly.

"Hey, Hunk tipped what he could," Lance defended. "And we didn't even get the pizza. It was right in front of us, just out of reach. It was the most tragic thing."

Hunk scratched his cheek and smiled guiltily. "Yeah, I felt pretty bad... Haha."

"You two..." Shiro laughed, shaking his head. "I do hope that's the only trouble you ever got in there."

"Of course!"

"Yeah, we were wonderful. Totally not delinquents. Now, Keith over here is the one that-"

"Lance," Keith quipped back dangerously.

"What? I'm not the one who got kicked out."

Keith rolled his eyes disinterestedly.

"You're lucky I did, or you'd still be a cargo pilot."

"That's not-!"

"Guys! Can we just have one nice dinner? Please?" Shiro huffed in tired exasperation.

"He started it!"

"What are you talking about? You dragged _me_ into it!"

"Oh my God." Pidge pushed up their glasses. "Here we go."

"Did y-you do anything different with the food goo this time, Coran?" Hunk cut in with a desperate pleasant voice, trying to calm the air. "It's extra good tonight!"

"How do you even manage to get kicked out when you're _sooooooo gooooood_ at flying?"

Shiro rubbed his temples and stared at the ceiling. He obviously needed to nap for ten years.

"I got caught," Keith snapped thoughtlessly. "A time or two. Got a warning the first time."

"Doing what?"

" _I got caught._ "

The whole team was staring directly at Keith at that point. The red paladin stirred his space gravy around angrily.

"Doing what?!"

"Lance, um, I think he means-"

"Getting laid," Pidge added simply. "Sorry, Keith. Stumbled over it on the database."

Keith shrugged, seemingly too annoyed to care at that point and just glad someone else said it.

"What?!"

The table went silent. Allura and Coran looked lost.

" _Laid?"_ they asked simultaneously.

More silence. Finally, Lance did the only thing he knew how in order to recover. He started laughing. He slapped Keith's back playfully.

"Sorry, sorry. Wow, I had no idea. Look at Keith here, you guys. A real ladies man. Up high, buddy. Though, you should really be like me and be more sneaky when you... Uh...?"

Why was the room still so quiet? Lance's eyes darted around confusedly.

He finally looked back to Keith, his hand still in the air. The red paladin was staring at him through squinted eyes. It was as if he didn't know whether to be confused, angry, or both.

"Hey, Keith, buddy. Don't leave me hanging. I was just kidding around before. You know that by now."

Keith continued to stare with that same look on his face. Looking around, Lance noted everybody looked confused. 

"Uh, guys...?"

"Lance, _enough_ of this sort of thing," Shiro started sternly. "And _Keith._ Why didn't you tell me that was the reason you-"

"Why do you always have to say shit like that?" Keith cut in sourly, eyes still focused hard on Lance. "Can you just not accept it? Why does it have to surprise you? What year were you even raised in? 2020? 20 _10_?"

"Keith, calm down."

"I'm sick of this guy! He's done this shit the whole time! He always has to say some archaic fucking-"

"Wait, what did I do?" Lance snapped, instinctively raising his voice to Keith's anger.

"Lance, did you really not know?" Hunk cut in softly. "Come on, guys. Don't fight... You've been getting along so well lately!"

"Know what?!"

The table exchanged baffled looks. Keith seemed to still. His anger shifted to flat-out indignant confusion.

"How stupid are you?"

"Now Keith..." Shiro sighed, shaking his head.

"Lance, Keith is gay," Pidge groaned. "Wow. Are we done now?"

...

...

...

"Since when?"

"The whole time?" the green paladin snorted.

"So, you got kicked out of the Garrison because you were caught fucking with dudes?" Unintentionally, Lance's face scrunched. Instead of making himself sound impressed like with the 'Ladies Man' comment from before, it came out all... grossed out? But he _wasn't_ grossed out. He really didn't care! He was just _completely caught off guard._

"Is that what 'laid' is slang for?" Coran cut in randomly.

"When did you come out of the closet?!"

"What closet? Why was Keith in a closet?" Allura threw in. Her voice seemed short, showing she was nearly over the entire exchange.

"Nobody really needs to 'come out of a closet' anymore, Lance..." Shiro huffed. His eyes quickly flashed up and widened, noticing Keith wheeling towards the glowing sliding doors. "Keith, now just hold-"

"He's full of shit," the red paladin threw over his shoulder as he took his leave down the hall. "He's just saying that to save his ass now."

"Nice one, Lance," Pidge commented dryly as Keith's footsteps faded down the corridor. "Okay, so why are you so surprised?"

"I just didn't know! Why didn't you guys tell me?"

"It never came up that you didn't know, or that we needed to clarify," Hunk contributed weakly. "We thought you knew like everyone else and were just kind of... a dick about it?"

" _Huh?_ "

"You know, you call him Princess, Pretty Boy and everything sometimes..."

Lance's eyes widened in realization. 

"What? Guys, you think I do that because I'm like...?"

"Homophobic?" Pidge finished for him. "Well, partially. It's not the only reason you guys argue all the time."

"I thought he was kind of... mean flirting? Like he kind of wanted it, but..." Hunk questioned hesitantly, shooting Lance an apologetic look when the brunette stared at him in shock. "You know... the tension?"

"Woah, no! I seriously just didn't know! If I knew, I wouldn't _ever_ -"

"You still are acting like it's some weird sort of thing. It really shouldn't be a shock either way. He shouldn't even need to specify or 'come out.'"

Lance clutched his head and pulled his hair.

"I know, okay? I just... Holy shit. Keith legit _hates me or thinks I want to-_ "

"No he doesn't, Lance," Shiro comforted tiredly. "He got used to it. Even tried to look past it most of the time in the past few months. I mean, there's been other things you guys got along about. You work so well when you partner on missions."

Lance laughed humorlessly, trying to imagine Keith giving him the benefit of the doubt for being a century-old grade A asshat. Didn't seem very... Keith-ish.

Everyone looked to Pidge, who was suddenly laughing. Lance scowled.

"Sorry, this is just so-" Pidge wiped a tear. "Come on guys, you have to admit this is really funny. Lance seriously didn't- And now he- Oh my God."

Hunk started smiling. Lance looked at him in utter betrayal.

"Just go apologize, Lance," Allura spoke up. "I feel like it'll really help you two bond once this misunderstanding is all cleared up!"

"Pff, yeah, _bond-_ "

"Now Pidge," Shiro interjected, obviously trying not to grin.

 _Shiro_ had also betrayed him. All hope was lost.

Lance could not believe this.


	2. Chapter 2

A few hours passed by. The ship's corridor lights had dimmed to signify nighttime. Lance had holed himself up in his room promptly after dinner: like a guilty dog with his tail between his legs.

He twirled his blue helmet in his hand and stared at the ceiling above his cot pensively. He'd been like that for a while. The others were surely all asleep.

In retrospect, Lance knew he was overreacting. Thinking about it just a little too hard. He just didn't consider Keith would ever be- Nah, actually, he wasn't that surprised... Not like Keith seemed stereo-typically flamboyant or anything. That would be okay too, of course...! Ugh. Just... Something just made more _sense_ after knowing. The way Keith got Lance unreasonably, inexplicably riled up... It was his gay charms or something, pulling magic on Lance's subconscious.

That didn't make _any_ sense.

Did that mean Keith had totally been checking him out? Did he think _he_ was hot? Would dudes be into him? Did guys see manly hotness in different ways than chicks? What was it like to mess around with dudes?

It wasn't the first time Lance had thought about such things. He knew he checked out Shiro's arms thirstily on a daily basis. Or, that really unfortunate recurring wet dream involving Hunk he never asked for... He just didn't pay much attention to it. He never _worried_ about those stupid things because he never wanted to _act on them._ The thought of acting those things out made his stomach twist with what he assumed was revulsion. Not that he disapproved of those things, like Keith thought he did. He just figured he was totally straight... with some random ass hormonal thoughts, heightened by the artificial gravity and the team being an overwhelming sausage party. That was all. Dicks? No thanks.

...Was Keith experienced with that sort of thing? With dicks?

Well, _shit,_ he had to be at least a little. He got caught at the Garrison... _doing things._ He probably did more that he didn't get caught for.

With _who?_ What all were they doing? Was Keith giving it or was he _taking_ -

"Fuck-" Lance's helmet slipped off of his hand after a particularly hard spin and thunked him in the head. He scrambled up into a sitting position, rubbing the sore spot with a scowl.

He just needed to stop thinking about it. Like the others said, it really wasn't a big deal. Like, at all.

_But-_

Lance shot up and stuffed his feet into his lion slippers. After grabbing his robe he stormed out of his room to get away from his own thoughts. The shower chamber, a helmet polish, and a nice layer of Altaen face-cleansing mask on his flawless skin would help clear his mind and conscience. Keith would realize he genuinely didn't know before and it would all blow over. Lance would stick to his mullet and crop-top insults and leave out anything that would make him look bad or insensitive. And maybe Allura was right; all of this would help them bond easier. From what Lance had started to think, their heated arguments from the beginning gradually became more friendly. They weren't really insulting each other or actually fighting, but making playful jabs and arguing just for the hell of it. Keith would get coy right back, like that time he got Blue back for him when he was un-kinkily chained to a tree by a heartless seductress.

Except Keith thought he _was_ still genuinely insulting him sometimes. In such a fucking terrible way.

Shit. Lance groaned and banged his head against his helmet. He was still thinking about it. He needed to stop.

He whipped around the corner which led towards the communal washroom and stopped in his tracks. The last voice he needed to hear at that point was emanating from the other side of the door.

Was Keith talking to somebody? Lance was sure he was the only paladin who would be awake so late. He could hear the water running.

Oh shit. Did Keith- Keith was showering _naked._

_Fucking duh._

Lance's eyes warily darted down each end of the corridor before he leaned in, pressing his ear against the door. Who was Keith talking to in there? Was he showering with somebody else? _What the fuck,_ who? Hunk? Shiro? Cor- Okay, _no,_ Lance thoughts. Stop right there.

Did he _need_ to be-

Lance yanked his head back.

Obviously Keith was just a nerd talking to himself.

He started to whip around. He wasn't going in there. No way. He'd wait a few minutes and go back.

Keith's voice got louder. Lance pressed back against the door confusedly.

He could hear him perfectly, but somehow couldn't make out what he was saying. He heard a new inflection in Keith's voice and his eyes widened in realization. He just started singing. It definitely wasn't something Lance had ever heard, but sounded like the oldies. There was something more emotional and genuine in early century music, while anything Altaen or anything recent back on Earth were mere beeps or recycled glitchhop noise, with rapping robots or autotune. Lance blamed the downfall of music on the death of Shakira and her voice, but that was a rant for another time...

He didn't know the song because it was in Korean. Right, that's why he couldn't make out the words. He reached for the button that would open the door but halted. Keith would obviously stop the moment he heard that, and he seriously just started.

Keith never spoke in Korean unless it was a short curse under his breath that he didn't want the others to hear. He definitely didn't _sing it._ He said he was barely even fluent from living on his own and not practicing speaking it to others. He was probably mispronouncing some of the words in there but Lance couldn't tell. That was sort of cute.

Lance gulped and felt the need to do something stupid. Go in there, make him _sing_ more? That had weird implications. Lance started to bang his head on his helmet again, which gave him an idea. A... blackmail idea? That's it. He just needed to act fast because this opportunity would be gone before he knew it.

_Stupid. Stupid. Abort._

His hand reached into his helmet and felt around near the cheek pad. There was a button somewhere in there. A handy button that recorded sound and relayed it back. It came in handy during missions where they'd split communication to avoid being intercepted, but this occasion proved it was useful for more devious reasons... He reached to the sliding door and pried it open just the slightest amount, stifling a grunt at the effort it took. The door was surprisingly stubborn when pried open manually.

Holy shit, if he got caught doing this, how was he supposed to explain himself? He looked around the hall again as he propped his helmet near the door.

He rested his head against the cold metal and listened with his own ears. He wondered what Keith was singing about, but it sounded like something gooey and laughable. Lance never expected hearing Keith sing, but if he did, he'd expect something like My Chemical Romance. Good Charlotte. _The Emo Kid Song_... Or a Shadow the Hedgehog theme. He beamed at himself and stifled a _totally-not_ -affectionate laugh.

Some random cheesy Korean pop song was cute too.

But it ended too fast. Lance only got a good 20 or 30 seconds before the singing and water shut off simultaneously. His eyes nearly bulged out of his head as his senses returned. The door snapped closed, mashing his fingers. He let out a silent scream as he ripped them away and mashed the button again to stop recording.

Alright, he probably deserved that. He bolted away, his helmet under his arm. He sucked on his throbbing fingers all the way to his room. He flopped onto his bed, staring in a watery daze at the ceiling.

"Fuck."

He grinned a little as he slipped his helmet on and played Keith's voice back. Then again. And again.

Worth it. Lance 1, Keith 0.

* * *

In Earth time, three days passed by. Everything seemed fairly mended with Keith despite offering no formal apology. Yet, something was somehow awkward... Lance was just relieved he continued acting the same as ever. Of course he did; nothing about Keith _changed..._  He was the same fiery hotshot asshole.

If anything, Lance was the one who had been weird. _Recording_ him? Glancing at him at dinner? When he passed food goo down to him the night before, his fingers betrayed him and brushed languidly over Keith's thumb.

The recording was totally- It was totally just for blackmail.

He had taken to putting his helmet on at random points when he was alone. At one point, Keith caught him off guard and nearly red handed. He'd been sitting in the living area, his limbs sprawled un-politely on the sofa, when the red paladin walked around the couch and plopped down tiredly. He was all sweaty and flushed, absentmindedly sipping on a water pouch. Lance jerked and reached into his helmet to shut off the recording even though Keith couldn't possibly hear it. The sudden movement made Keith glance over and quirk his brow.

"What is it?" he had asked.

"Nothing!"

"Whatever you say."

Lance wanted to scream, but he didn't know what he'd say. He stared at Keith since he was no longer looking.

How dare he act so disinterested?

Lance let his eyes slide down from his face to his torso and swallowed dryly. His chest still rose and fell at a quick, tired pace. His dark shirt clung to his lean, toned body.

In a totally straight sort of way, Lance knew Keith was fuckable. He just noticed is all.

"Why are you wearing your helmet in here?"

Oh. Lance looked back at Keith's face, about ready to curl up and die from being caught staring. Thankfully, the red paladin seemed oblivious.

"My head was cold."

"...You're so dumb."

" _You're_ dumb!" he snapped back childishly. He shot up and stormed off, feeling Keith's eyes follow him as he escaped. They didn't talk until the next day. Within that time, Lance decided he was going to act totally normal. _So normal_ it was basically like, the most casual thing ever that Keith was gay. Why would Lance care? It was just another casual thing to be Lance-ish about.

_"Teacher came in and they caught me red handed creepin' with the boy next door!"_

"Uh, what?"

_"Picture this we were both butt naked bangin' on the bathroom fl-"_

"Lance!" Shiro snapped. "You barely dodged that laser!"

"Whaaat? It's the oldies. And I've totally got this."

"I don't think that's how it went..."

"Honestly, are all your human songs about sex?" Allura asked disdainfully through the combined lions' systems.

"Lance, why don't you just sing... something else?" Hunk suggested tensely.

"No!" Keith finally cut in after being mostly silent. "No more singing!"

Lance made a face. Didn't Keith like the oldies?

"I was just playing around. You know, some travel tunes. This mission is totally easy. It's boring, just mowing these drones down."

"Keith is right, Lance. We're all a little tired. Let's just finish this up and get back to the castle, alright?"

"Yeah, yeah. You guys are boring."

...

...

_"But they caught me on the counter..."_

"Oh my God."

_"Saw me bangin' on the sofa..."_

"Lance, I swear I'm-"

 _"I even had him in the show-_  Woah, the fuck, dude? Watch where you're swinging your sword thing! You clipped Blue down here!"

"Uh huh. Sorry. My bad."

Despite his brows being furrowed, Lance's scowl broke into a soft grin. He could hear something in Keith's voice that announced he wasn't really mad. Annoyed to high hell, yes, but slightly amused. He wasn't going to admit it, but Lance could just tell. He could picture that dry grin gracing over Keith's lips, like he didn't want to be smiling, but he just _was._

"...You know, just don't let it slap me again."

"Please just fuck already."

"Pidge, language!"

"Sorry, Shiro. But come on. Ever since Lance got his head out of his butt he's totally been _actually_   flirting and it's so-"

"Weird?" Hunk finished agreeably.

"Woah, I'm not flirting!"

" _'Watch where you're swinging your sword thing. You know, just don't let it slap me again.'_ "

"I was just saying that because- Keith, buddy, my man, you know what I'm saying, right? I'm not flirting with you. It's cool and everything that's what you're into, but-"

"Yes, I get it, Lance," the red paladin cut in with a flatter tone, as if he'd grown disinterested. A grin was no longer evident in his tone.

Lance chewed his lip. He _hated_ when Keith acted disinterested.

"Will you five hurry this along?" Coran's voice piped in. "You're distracted."

"I think it's just Lance and Keith that are distracted."

"Hey, Pidge, you want to come down here and fight me?"

"No, but you want to 'go down' on Ke-"

"It's all clear, Princess," Shiro spoke with finality in his tone. "We're heading back now. Voltron, disassemble."

"Hunk, why are you laughing?!"

"M-Me? I'm not- L-laughing! Sorry!"

Lance made a face. His teammates were a bunch of traitors.

As the lions broke apart and spun around to head towards the castle, Lance slumped deeply into his pilot seat and trusted Blue's autopilot. Everyone was being quiet. Especially Keith. He didn't even help him out with Pidge when he totally needed a second opinion. What was up with that?

He reached up into his helmet for the recording. Not like it calmed his nerves or anything. He just needed something to break the silence.

"...Lance? What is that?"

His eyes blinked open confusedly. "Eh?"

"You're transmitting something through- Through your..."

Oh, sweet Fire Lord.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like to think Keith was singing 1:17 of 'Let's Not Fall in Love" by Big Bang. Because I'm a loser. ;) If you don't know what Lance was singing, you can get out of my town.


	3. Chapter 3

On the bright side, things couldn't really get any worse...?

The journey back to the ship was tense. It took a few seconds of confused " _What is that?_ " questions among the team until they pieced it together as Keith's voice.

Tense was an understatement. Keith's silence became plain eerie.

There was an initial, " _Lance, I'm going to kill you!_ " that helped ensure suspicions, but still. He didn't say another word and it was suffocating. Lance couldn't even find the will to try defending himself, Pidge didn't make another jab, and Shiro and Hunk awkwardly tried to distract from the whole situation with small talk. To Allura's credit, she tried addressing the elephant in the room with a pleasant " _Keith, that sounded lovely. I thought you didn't speak much of that language?_ " but didn't get a response.

How could Lance forget about the stupid broadcast function? He swore he didn't even press that specific button, meaning...

How could Blue betray him like that?

After they docked back at the castle, Lance was convinced Keith really would make do on his promise. The other paladins exchanged knowing glances and strolled out, but Keith just ripped off his helmet- Fuck his stupid ~~cute~~ helmet hair- and stormed towards Lance, preventing his escape. His face looked as red as his jumpsuit. It had to be from pure anger. Lance raised his hands defensively.

"Now Keith, buddy, I-"

Keith's hands snapped out to yank Lance's helmet off his head.

"Ow, my neck! Dude-"

Lance's words stalled in his throat. Keith was so close to his own face he could make out every tiny pore. Had his eyes always been that deep shade of purplish-blue? Was he low key _also_ stealing Allura's face mask to get his skin perfect?

The brunette was completely unaware of what Keith was doing; he was holding the helmet near his ear and feeling for the cheek pad button. Lance simply continued eyeing his pale skin, raking his gaze down from his defined jawline to his throat. His gaze rested on Keith's Adam's apple and caught it ever-so-subtly bob as he swallowed and gritted his teeth at the recording.

How could that sight possibly make Lance's heart twist in his chest? It didn't make any sense. It was just Keith's _neck._ His totally male, not-feminine, yet somehow jaw-droppingly beautiful neck and face.

Nobody else, male or female, ever had him obsessing so hard over random stupid body parts. This was just a whole other level of attraction, blind to any of the technical garbage. He _had_ to admit it to himself. There was no denying it anymore; there was eyeing others's assets appreciatively, not feeling enough out of it to concern himself with technicalities... and then there was basically drooling over _fucking Keith_ and his _stupid Adam's apple_ like he was a porn star. Okay, that was a weird comparison.

With a hard second press against the button, Keith had recorded over his previous voice with the humming quietness of the glowing room. He then promptly chucked Lance's helmet at his head.

"Now what was that for?" the raven asked pitilessly as Lance's hands shot to the throbbing spot above his temple.

"If you would have just let me explain _before_ you fucking threw my shit at me-"

"Explain what? How you got that? Were you _in there?"_

"I was at the door! What, you think I'd spy on you?!"

Keith backed off of him and started wheeling around to leave. Lance's hand snapped out and grasped his, earning a stare like it might as well have been the most offensive dirty grip in the galaxy.

"I don't know...! I just don't know why I did it."

Keith yanked his hand out of Lance's grasp.

"We both know you did it to broadcast it and make some stupid point about how I'm-"

"I didn't mean to transmit it! You really think I'd do that?! I was just listening to it!"

"Why?"

"For... science? Research purposes?"

Keith continued to stare expectantly. He just didn't get it. Lance wanted to wring his pretty neck. He'd rather admit to anything than have Keith think he did it on purpose.

"I've just been confused, okay?" he added in exasperation.

"Science...? What are you talking about? Were you jerking off to the sound of my voice?" Keith scoffed.

It was obviously supposed to be a humorless bitter joke, but Lance's eyes widened anyway.

He might have, given another ship night alone with it in his room... He probably could've gotten off picturing him in that shower. The thought made his chest twist all over again with pure shame. He didn't deny or agree with the accusation. He momentarily glanced away and rubbed his arm.

Unable to take the silence and scrutinizing gaze any longer, Lance looked back to Keith, whose hard glare finally started shifting into a look of realization. His tightly crossed arms slumped to his sides. His knitted brows raised and his tight frown parted so he could breathe deeply through his mouth. His plum-colored eyes sparkled with something Lance couldn't place.

"So... you were?"

"You're not mad anymore?" Lance asked dumbly, too stunned by the drastic shift to defend his innocence.

"Oh, no, now I want to kill you. Run."

Okay, there was Angry Keith again.

"Wait, Ke- Oh God, Keith, wait! I wasn't! Shit!"

* * *

Lance was back to square one: banishing himself to his room, sprawling on his bed to mope and mull things over obsessively. As he wheeled down a ship corridor and glanced over his shoulder, Keith was gone. He'd stopped chasing him, bluffing with his sword held over his head. Well, hopefully bluffing... Surely.

He didn't want to know what the others thought of his actions. He especially didn't know what he wanted Keith to think. Not that he'd been jerking off to him, but definitely not that he was out to ridicule him. It was all just a mess. He was the mess.

"Lance?"

He bristled at that voice on the other side of his door. He swallowed and tried his best to speak normally.

"Have you come to try and kill me again?"

"...No."

The door snapped open, causing Lance to tense and shift into a sitting position and hang his legs off the bed. Keith trudged in, his face flat but somehow equally as red as before.

"Yeah, sure, come right on in."

Keith didn't seem to appreciate the forced sarcasm. He leaned against his door after it closed behind him, scanning the floor pensively for a few tense moments before meeting Lance's worried stare.

"Okay, about earlier... Look, it was-"

"It's over. I don't care."

Lance's eyes narrowed confusedly.

"Why are you here then?"

Keith let his eyes roam around the room at that, as if he was considering what he was about to do or if he needed to simply leave. In the end, he spoke up with a mutter.

"You said you were confused."

"Oh... Well..."

"It makes sense. I didn't ever believe Hunk. He tried to tell me that's probably why you were always being stupid. He knows you best and all... but recently- Since you figured out or whatever, it's like you're _extra_ -"

" _What_ did Hunk tell you?!"

"Let me finish," Keith snapped. Lance scowled, but the look wouldn't last long. A few simple words, proposed with such obviously forced casualness, wiped it right off. 

"Guessing you need help? With your... research?"

Lance's mouth twitched open as if he wanted to reply but simply couldn't. His thought process was stolen.

"Yeah, never mind."

"H-Hang on, don't leave."

He didn't need Keith's help. He was pretty damn positive on what he was into, just looking at the boy in his room.

He knew he just wanted Keith regardless.

And Keith was there, offering. He had to be dreaming it. Hallucinating the boy's presence.

Offering _what?_ A lab partner of dude self-discovery?

"...How are you gonna do that? Are we gonna make out?"

"Please, don't make me change my mind."

Keith pressed the red button on the door panel, locking it. Lance gulped and fidgeted as he swaggered over.

"Holy- What are you d-doing?" he breathed as Keith stopped in front of him, pulled off his fingerless gloves, and lowered down onto his knees in front of his lap. Lance's pulse instantly quickened. The hairs across his skin raised and he gripped his sheets with balled fists. He figured they would've at least _started_ with a kiss, but it made sense how that wasn't up to Keith's speed...

"I know this is, uh, probably, surprising from me, but I- I've never really made it past second base, so..."

Keith set his stupid gloves on the mattress and shot Lance an incredulous look.

"Okay, but how is baseball relevant right now...?"

" _No,_ I- Jesus, Keith."

Lance chewed his lip, holding back an exasperated shriek into space. How could a guy so painfully oblivious to social cues have gotten Garrison action while Lance tried every cheesy tactic in the book to romance the nearest female in sight?

Because Keith was gorgeous. It really pissed Lance off how he didn't even try or care. People just gravitated to him. Lance definitely still felt that lingering pang of jealousy from the Garrison. It never made sense then; girls would be all over him, and he just _never_ -

Wow, Lance really _was_  slow. He was starting to understand why Pidge laughed at his initial total shock.

"It's slang. I'm saying I've never... _gotten_  to what you're about to do? And this is seriously happening out of nowhere. You've barely been here two minutes."

What exactly _was_ he planning on doing? The gloves had quite literally come off, so was he going to touch him?

Lance figured he could handle that much.

That is, until Keith dipped his fingers experimentally into the waistband of his shorts without as much as a hum of acknowledgement. Lance refused to look but wanted to shoot him a scowl and demand a reply.

" _Sooooo,_  that being said, this kinda is going from zero to a hundred real quick."

"Can't handle it?" Keith finally muttered.

Lance's mouth opened in closed like a fish floundering breathlessly on land.

"Of course I can!"

"You sure?"

"The least you could do is _act_ surprised! ...Quit smirking, Keith!"

The red paladin rolled his eyes. Lance's mind went blank when he felt fingers dipping past the waistband of his boxer-briefs. He swallowed at the dry lump stuck insistently at the base of his throat. Keith's fingers were ghosting against his rapidly forming arousal, still hidden by the fabric. He could hardly register the calloused digits before they wrapped around completely and gave the base a firm squeeze.

"This isn't out of nowhere... It's been building for a while."

When Keith tugged the front of his pants and underwear down with his other hand and fished out his length, Lance gasped and instinctively jerked to cover himself. Keith smacked his hands away.

"G-Geez... Somebody's eager for all of _this_ ," Lance managed to coo weakly, motioning to himself.

Not like he had any room to talk. He was already embarrassingly, completely hard from the hand wrapping around him.

"Totally."

Keith gave a short loose stroke of his hand, then brushed his palm over Lance's sensitive tip. It leaked at the touch, slicking the red paladin's thumb as it brushed back over.

Lance couldn't tell from that dry tone if Keith was being purely sarcastic or starkly genuine. Keith wasn't the best at conveying sarcasm... He hoped it wasn't just sarcasm, because that would mean...

"You don't have to do this..."

Keith actually looked at him, frowning with a single brow quirked expectantly.

"Well, you just-"

"Lance, I've got to get you off at least once before you fuck me, or you're just going to finish in 30 seconds at best," Keith stated as if it was the most obvious, matter-of-fact, _casual fucking thing._

Lance gaped at him.

He knew Keith was really rash and technical... He _knew_ he just went right into things once that switch in his mind was set off. Lance was never more aware of this trait than he was in that moment, except perhaps that time Keith took on Zarkon all by himself.

It was a like the reminder was slapping him across the face. He still couldn't help being completely shocked by his blatant words. _Fucking?_ Just... dive right into that? They hadn't even kissed yet! Didn't he need to take him out, flirt him up skillfully, buy him a space drink, or a _bouquet_ at least? These things were supposed to have a sequential fucking order, at least to Lance.

"I would not! Who do you think I a-ahhhah, ah, _ohkay_ , you just fucking licked-"

"Lance, seriously, don't narrate." Keith wet his lips as he spoke.

"Oka- _Uh-_ But I don't think I could get hard again, r-right away..."

Keith tilted his head, his flattened tongue connecting to the base of Lance's cock and trailing up lazily towards the tip. Lance gaped like a dying fish again when Keith's eyes flickered up to meet his mid-lick. He knew he looked completely idiotic and he definitely wanted to punch himself, but he just couldn't keep his face straight. His mind and resolve were both putty.

At least Keith didn't call him out on it. He was thankful for that.

All he wished he'd do at that point was give him some time to catch his breath. That was probably asking too much... Definitely was. Keith's tongue continued to swirl and flicker over his burning skin. One of his hands held his length softly and tilted it to point up towards his stomach. This allowed him to explore the entirety of the underside with his tongue and just barely dip down towards his balls, right before dragging a stripe back to the tip. He repeated the action two or three times, basically torturing Lance.

...Somehow, the thing that drove Lance _the most_ crazy was how Keith brushed some of his hair behind his ear to keep it out of the way.

He didn't know why, but he drank in the sight and felt it stab at his heart like the bob of his Adam's apple. Keith was _beautiful,_ in some weird masculine way that was both thrilling and confusing. Those two emotions mixed together were a bit intimidating. It couldn't be good for Lance's heart.

Keith's hand tilted his arousal closer so it pointed straight up towards the ceiling. He leaned in even closer and fitted his lips over the tip, taking him into his mouth. They were chapped- Lance was always insisting Keith put on some goddamn chapstick for his skin health- but somehow, they were still soft and pleasant. _Overwhelmingly_ pleasant. Shit. Lance whimpered. Fucking _whimpered._

His hands rose up and planted themselves atop Keith's head. His fingers threaded into that godforsaken mullet, pushing more of his raven hair from his face. He started to notice just how _soft_ Keith's hair was, but his attention was ripped away by him hollowing his cheeks as he took him in inch by inch. It didn't help that he was basically craning his neck to allow a full view of Lance dipping beyond his lips at a steady, tantalizing pace. Totally intentional torture. Payback. Keith was officially a sociopath.

It was so _wet_  and and _on fire_ and the sight of it just- Lance fought the urge to hold on for dear life and pull at the other boy's scalp.

"How many dicks have you sucked?"

He shuddered as Keith huffed through his nose, the air tickling his throbbing skin.

"You don't just ask shit like that," Keith snapped after pulling his mouth back. "Especially right now."

Lance stared at how his cock was still resting against Keith's bottom lip, shiny with his saliva and twitching desperately from the loss of contact. He was barely listening. "...I'm not judging! You just... know what you're doing, it seems like? It's a compliment!"

"It's none of your business."

Lance furrowed his brows. Sure, it was a stupid question but Keith didn't have to get so snappy. The subject seemed especially sensitive, considering it was able to draw Keith out of his heated rampage.

He felt guilty for asking. But, wouldn't it be even stupider and dickish to try to recover by saying, "Please just start sucking me off again?" He was a bit stuck and he had buried his own grave.

"Not a lot. Really," Keith finally answered, speaking softer in resignation. His hand absentmindedly stroked Lance's glistening arousal, keeping him hard and making him shudder. "...I got lonely a lot, you know? I was on my own, or burning through foster families earlier on, so when I got to the Garrison..."

"...Lonely?" Lance echoed, his eyes finally shifting away from his arousal to stare at Keith's face.

He looked sobered. His hotheaded switch had obviously been turned off. His eyes were downcast, swirling with some vulnerable emotion Lance never figured Keith could portray.

"So I got reckless, I guess. For affection... Anywhere, anytime. Not with a _different guy_ every time, _fuck you_... So I got caught. It wasn't the only thing that got me out, okay? I didn't do homework or anything... Nobody made me."

The mood had shifted dramatically. Lance felt like a complete asshole at how he could _still_ be hard while Keith was suddenly completely different than he was seconds before. Though, if he kept that sort of distant face up- kept speaking so defensively- Lance imagined he'd shrivel up in record time.

Lance could barely function. How was he supposed to remedy this situation? He hadn't signed up for this... He hadn't asked Keith to reduce him to this shameful state (although he wasn't complaining), and he _definitely_ never asked him to stab his heart with unbridled guilt and pity. Why did he feel _guilty?_

He just could never understand that level of loneliness and isolation... That's why.

That desperate yearning for attention that would make some people seek out a sexual rush was an entirely foreign concept.

As a totally _not_ helpless romantic, flat out sex- or dick sucking, whatever- didn't sound very fulfilling in the affection department. Not genuine, lasting affection anyway. Sex didn't magically supply that feel-good loved feeling. It didn't just magically create a bond, but it could strengthen or totally destroy one... That's what his mother once told him during an awkward heart-to-heart, but at least she _had_ told him.

Did Keith ever get what he'd been aiming for? Was he ever satisfied afterwards?

Lastly, he never meant for his question to sound accusatory, like he thought Keith was some kind of... slut, for lack of a better word? Easy? That's obviously how it was interpreted. That's how Keith thought he saw him.

Yeah, he was definitely soft. Did _all_ of his actions have to be taken wrong...?

"You just want some... aff-"

"Just forget it," Keith snapped. "I rambled."

Lance's eyes flew wide open as damp heat engulfed his withering flesh all over again. He jerked and gripped Keith's hair tightly.

"W-Woah, hold on... K-Keith, would you just- _Hold on._ "

He pulled weakly, breaking Keith away.

He squirmed under the glare he received, but not because it was intimidating. It looked so painfully half-assed and heavy.

" _What?_ What am I doing wrong? You're getting all-"

Lance stared back in defiance. Praise the Lord, a surge of confidence finally blessed him at the right time. He surged up to stand, hooking his hands under Keith's arms and yanking him up. Keith instinctively started to yank away but Lance held tight.

He pulled the belligerent red paladin into a hug, vaguely aware of how awkward it was with his basically flaccid dick pressed between them.

It was like trying to snuggle a really fucking angry antisocial cat, but Lance held tight.

"What the fuck are you doing? _Let go of me._ "

"I'm just hugging you."

"Well can it _wait?_  We aren't hugging right now, we're-"

Keith went silent all at once as Lance stroked his fingers through his hair and pressed their foreheads together.

He looked broken. He didn't seem to know how to function anymore. Not in that situation. His eyes darted around rapidly, staring at anything but Lance's. He wasn't writhing anymore; he was entirely frozen and tense.

"You're definitely fucking bi, Lance," he finally grumbled out. "And stupid. Are we done?"

Despite every other doubt in his mind, Lance grinned stupidly.

"Yeah," he finally admitted out loud. "I am. Hypothesis proven."

Keith looked stunned, like he hadn't been expecting Lance to admit it.

"It makes sense now. I check out girls _and_ other dudes, but I wasn't into that lately 'cus... I've only got eyes for you, _querido_."

"Just shut up... You're just saying that," he hissed in exasperation. His face was bright red. "That's _so_ lame."

Lance swallowed, praying for his confidence to stay with him just a little longer.

"Keith, I'm sorry."

"For?"

"You know... Making you feel insulted for so long, putting you on the spot constantly, invading your privacy... I wasn't intentionally being an asshole, but you still deserve an apology. I don't deserve for you to- Jesus. Suck me off and _especially_ - I don't deserve any of-"

Keith's lips cut him off. Lance staggered back slightly as arms slung themselves over his shoulders.

"Kei-" he whined against the assaulting lips on his. He turned his face away, determined to finish.

"It's okay," Keith snapped back, though his voice was breathless and feathery. Not angry or annoyed in the least. Just flat-out _foreign._  A hand touched Lance's cheek and turned him back. The brunette stared dumbly, soaking in an flushed knitted expression. "Ha, it's really okay now. Just kiss me, stupid."

For once, Lance didn't even think to talk back or protest. His arms squeezed Keith tightly and his lips crashed back into place.

Keith pushed his tongue up against Lance's lips searchingly. They parted with little hesitation. He didn't see how he could ever refuse after the sound Keith just made: some kind of mix between a whine and a warm sigh.

His hands were pressed against his chest, nudging him blindly. His tongue grazed over his and urged it to reciprocate. Lance didn't know what he was trying to get him to do at first, with the whole hands pushing on him dilemma. He grunted questioningly against Keith's mouth.

"Goddamn, Keith. Am I that irresistible?" he managed to coo weakly after a hard nip on his bottom lip. Keith broke away, eyeing him incredulously and nudging harder.

"Holy shit, numbskull, just lay down."

There was still no venom in his tone, despite the name and layer of exasperation.

Lance unwittingly made a strained face when Keith pried his arms off his waist. He quickly recovered and stared defiantly when Keith smirked across to him and sat down on the edge of his mattress, scooting back and lowering down onto his elbows. His dark shirt rode up over his left hip. He had a tiny dark freckle just above the hem of his pants on the bone. Like his neck and hair, that birthmark was another completely random, _stupid_ thing that Lance found himself stumbling over. He wanted to adorn that spot with his mouth. It looked so striking against his creamy skin.

His legs felt weak, like jell-o had suddenly replaced his kneecaps, but he stooped down and let his knees dip into the bed regardlessly. He stared at Keith's mouth as it parted readily in anticipation. His lips were lightly swollen and wet and it was all he could focus on.

Hands were touching either side of his face, pulling him in. He clumsily crawled over Keith as their lips connected again.

The kiss didn't seem very coordinated. Both of their movements were wide and sloppy but Lance couldn't get _enough_ of it. Keith was just kissing in earnest and Lance just praised the heavens for being able to match his pace. He was getting worked up all over again.

The raven's hands- they seemed naked without those dorky pointless gloves- slipped away from Lance's face. Their mouths broke apart with an overly-dramatic wet smack that, in any other situation, would be sugar-coated and suffocatingly gross.

Lance just stared down at Keith, beyond the point of registering whatever dumb dazed expression he was likely wearing. Keith was grinning. It was small, no teeth exposed, yet still large enough to light up his entire face as his smiles usually did.

"What's _Keith_ smiling for?"

"Nothing. Stop talking."

"Hey, screw yo- _ohhkay_ , _that_ again, your hands are-"

"I know."

"Give a guy a warning n-next..." Lance trailed off when Keith's palm brushed over his tip. Even worse, he arched up against him and released an impatient huff, stroking him completely back to life with his other hand.

"I want you."

Lance imagined his still-beating heart bursting from his chest all over Keith's stupid handsome-beautiful face. He gulped dryly, a nervous lump in his throat growing hard to ignore.

"...You've got me."

"Could you maybe...?"

"Maybe wha- Oh, right..."

He needed to touch back. So far, Keith had done all the work down below.

This was the penultimate test of his bi-hood within Lance's convoluted teenage boy brain: The Dick Touch.

"It's fine. Don't worry about it... I know this is all kind of-"

Keith sucked air sharply through his teeth, clearly caught off guard when Lance finally reached down and grabbed him through his pants.

That wasn't so bad. It was pretty great, actually. Lance gave a squeeze and ground against Keith's hands.

He could watch Keith bite his lip and roll his eyes back on repeat all day.

"This is going _fucking slow_."

"I'm romancing you."

"Take it out, romance me later."

" _Take it out, romance me later,_ " Lance mocked. At the same time, he obliged and made quick work of the front of Keith's pants.

"Do you _ever_ stop talking?"

Despite his exasperation, Keith was still smiling. Lance beamed giddily. What exactly did he do to deserve seeing that look on his face again? Directed at him, no less. Nothing. Nothing at all.

He tugged the raven's pants and underwear off his hips and slightly down his thighs. Keith moaned when his bare flesh was touched.

Lance imagined that he didn't deserve to hear that sound either. He needed to do his best to earn anything else. He could do that. He'd gotten that far after all.

He used his free hand to brush some of Keith's hair behind his ear.

The gesture seemed to throw the other male off just like the forehead touch from before. His eyes darted away as if looking for some random explanation pasted on the wall.

With his hair sufficiently out of the way of his ear, Lance whispered "Keith," against it. The body pinned underneath him shuddered.

"Y-Yeah?" came a starkly overwhelmed mutter in response.

He didn't have anything to say. He just wanted to feel his name leaving his lips.

" _Keith,_ " he hummed again, mirroring the motions of Keith's hand on his arousal with his own.

"Lance, d-don't..."

"Don't what?" he uttered, slightly confused but persistent. While Keith possessed rash confidence, Lance still maintained his usual stubbornness to keep himself going. He tilted his head so their cheeks rubbed together. "You're _so_ hot, Keith. Literally. Your face is on f-"

A cordial groan derailed Lance's burst of confidence. Keith shifted his hips off the bed, inadvertently brushing their lengths together. He pushed his pants and boxers down more and kicked them off the rest of the way.

"Woah."

There he was, lost again. It was like this was a whole new struggle for control between the two of them that was constantly changing. Lance would do something sincerely tender and then Keith would do something extremely hot and derail the other in a cycle.

He didn't see how he'd steal the lead back from Keith when he spread his legs and kept his hips lifted. Instead of just stroking Lance, he held their cocks together and lightly gyrated his hips for friction. Lance swore the arm propping himself up nearly gave out. His hand balled into a tight fist, nearly ripping his sheets.

"Oh, man, if you do that, I'll... I'm going to..."

"Yeah, me too."

"Really?" he gasped wondrously, feeling vaguely idiotic for how giddy that made him. "I really make you-?"

"Lance, _please_ ," Keith whined, turning his face into the pillow. "Yes..."

Lance stared at his fanned-out raven hair against the fabric and bucked against the length sliding against his.

He worried he would be too spent after one time to continue. But, as Keith arched impossibly against him and clenched his eyes shut tightly, squeezing both of their lengths together as he came simultaneously with him, he was only wondering if it was even possible to stop. There was no way; not after watching two generous ropes of white shoot onto Keith's flexing stomach, feeling more pool into the creases of his clasped naked hand, or how his mouth gaped open with breathy short moans escaping.

The look on Keith's face suggested that the answer was probably a 'No, we're far from done.' When he moved up and kissed him again, their mouths sliding together tactlessly, it was _definitely_ a no. Their kisses were rough. They would probably look gross and sloppy to an audience. Heated just like everything else between them, fueled by raw passion.

They simply stayed like that for many long seconds, maybe minutes, just content with one another's body heat and roaming hands. Keith bit Lance's lower lip as he stroked the ridges of his palette with his tongue.

"Got your lotion?" Keith breathed ruggedly after breaking away and flopping his head back on the pillow again.

"Wha...?"

Keith's eyes drifted to the side, landing on the lonely shelf protruding from the wall.

"How'd you know about my fancy Altean lotion? You _have_ been stealing it, hm?"

"Everyone knows you're a fucking diva, Lance. Get it."

Lance's smile twitched with amusement despite how his mind was screaming from nervousness. He was thankful for the drawn out make-out session since it grounded him a bit.

"Okay, damn. Don't go anywhere."

"Totally thinking about it," Keith shot back, obviously insincere.

Lance returned and set the bottle down next to them. Their eyes simultaneously shifted off of it back to one another.

"Don't I need to... uh? Prepare...?"

He wanted to smack himself. His smile was gone and he could feel the corners of his mouth pulling themselves down into a tight flat line. He wanted to shift back over Keith but felt frozen. So much for staying relaxed from the kissing.

"I did before I came in here. Should be... fine."

"Y-You... f-fingered yourself, before you came here, j-just in case I'd really want to-"

"Yeah. I figured you wouldn't want to... uh, waste time on it."

Keith looked legitimately embarrassed.

Before Lance could question him, reassure him, and softly push him back down, Keith sat up, ripped off his dark shirt, and surged forward. He straddled Lance's lap facing him.

"Keith..."

His bare torso, that look on his face, the way he was squeezing an obscene amount of lotion onto his palm and then reaching down to slick it over Lance's cock... He was going to be the absolute death of him.

At least it'd be a quick- rapid as Hell because it was _Keith_ - way to go out.

He grabbed Keith's hand as it tilted his weeping length up against his ass, stalling him from promptly getting to the point and officially causing Lance's sweet death. He swallowed and forced himself to speak up with a firmer tone.

"Listen. It wouldn't be wasting my time. Stop acting like I'm not as into this. Into yo-...you. _I am_. I'd totally do that if you needed me to."

 "Oh... Okay."

Broken once again. Lance stole the lead and he hardly meant to. He had _no idea_ how he could handle having control at _that_ moment.

"Okay, geez... So that said, are you sure it's fine?"

He took Keith's hand lightly prying out of his grip and resuming its actions as a yes, since that's all he basically got in reply. The red paladin's brows were furrowed tightly. He was basically gnawing his bottom lip to shreds. He didn't know _how_ to verbally reply yet his eyes screamed exactly what he wanted.

And then he was lowering down and all Lance could feel was suffocating heat clamping and easing over his skin, agonizingly slow and steady.

Keith was right before. He probably would have finished right then the first time around.

"Holy fuck..." he ground out, leaning back until the wall of the cot stopped him. It made it so he wasn't lying down all the way, but slumping against it comfortably enough. He momentarily jerked up to pull off his shirt in hopes it would cool him down, because he felt _on fire._ No such luck, but Keith seemed appreciative of the action. As he tossed the rumpled cloth away he earned a surprisingly loud moan, making him briefly wonder how thin the walls were.

"How into me are you?" Keith bit out through his teeth, wavering voice barely above a whisper. He didn't even seem to consider anybody hearing. He wasn't thinking that at the moment; he was in one of his zones, focused impossibly hard.

Lance's eyes snapped open. He weakly rolled his head back up to stare alertly. The raven's lips were parted and glistening. His chest was rising and falling at a startling pace. He lowered down all the way and Lance caught his Adam's apple bob dramatically with a swallow. He felt the grip on his shoulders tighten and quiver.

"Wahaahh...?" Lance barely managed to breathe out, because _holy shit,_ he was completely in-

"Nn, on a... scale of one... to ten."

Keith ran his hands down to Lance's chest before rolling his hips experimentally.

"Oh God, Keith," he gasped sharply, his head flopping back against the wall helplessly with a dull thump. He kept staring through half-lidded eyes.

Keith was still on about that...? Did he really need to ask?

"I'm gonna say... a solid 12. If you meant _literally_ , I'd say like, currently six, seven inches? Never measured-" 

" _Shut up._ "

Keith's hips rolled again to prove a point. Even if Lance didn't want to obey that demand, he couldn't help but choke on any possible intelligible words. His hands reached desperately and landed on Keith's hips. He could feel his fingertips digging in harshly and nearly broke them away and internally chastised himself, but Keith let out another disorienting moan that seemed approving of the pressure. He lifted off of him and in return, Lance impulsively brought him back down by the hold on his hips and bucked up. The loud choked whine that left the raven's mouth made him freeze and panic.

"Was that okay? I'm sorr-"

"Yes," Keith crooned. "Keep doing that."

He didn't have to be told twice. Worry shifted to relaxation which turned to determination. Keith helped by sliding up and Lance's fingers would dig against his bone and snap him back down firmly. He was breathing unevenly, making these soft indescribable, musical, vulnerable sounds that Lance had no idea someone so confrontational was capable of. Truly, Keith had an addictive voice: deep and smooth and dangerous but shockingly capable of softening like a feather.

Lance felt like he was getting a good handle on their movements. He'd thrust back with more purpose, more confidence, and allow moans to leave his mouth on rugged breaths. The strangling heat around him would frequently clench but seemed to give comfortably, where as at the beginning Keith might as well have been a wood chipper about to pinch Lance Jr. clean off.

Yeah, he _totally_ had it down. He was blissful. Of course he had it down. He was Lance, the greatest lover alive in space. Nothing could throw him off anymore.

So when Keith grabbed one of his hands from his hips and brought it around to squeeze his ass, then angled his hips differently and shouted wantonly out of _nowhere,_ Lance was thoroughly convinced he was ingeniously getting the most perfect form of revenge. 

Keith was rising and falling back down all on his own since Lance froze. He was rolling his hips at that new angle and it finally hit the brunette on what he was directing him to within.

Some instinctual thing in him snapped, curing his stunned paralysis so he could thrust up to meet the other paladin's movements. His straight legs felt unbearably stiff at that point, so he moved his other hand to Keith's ass to grip and hold him still momentarily so he could cross them. They were sound asleep and tingled as blood rushed back through them. He watched the white impressions left by his fingertips fade back to a lively flush.

He seriously was _growled at_ like pausing shortly was offensive.

"Oh hush," he scolded, secretly impressed by his own stern husky voice. His hands stayed where they were but loosened so they could continue. He picked back up where they left off with a whole new burst of fervor.

Somehow he wasn't surprised that Keith could get loud. At the same time, holy fuck, was he _wanting_ somebody to hear?

His legs were shaking. His hand had reached down to stroke himself. His hair had fallen all back in his face again. Lance shifted closer and pushed his hands back through so he could see his face, kiss his swollen lips.

Keith whined into his mouth, barely kissing back with any semblance of coordination. His movements were growing sloppier and more desperate.

The pit of Lance's stomach was screwed like a tight molten coil, flooding pulsing warmth through his pelvis. He kept his eyes open through the kiss while Keith's were clenched shut. He let them roam over his toned body.

In any other situation, the idea of their old cum smeared between them, only still warm from the burning heat of their bodies, would be kind of gross. But as it glistened and dipped obscenely into Keith's navel, Lance felt the achy strain of a second miraculous climax rapidly dragging him in.

" _Hn... nnn, a-ah, Lance, Lance,_ " he was basically chanting as he rocked his hips. He was chanting _his name,_ and-

He was tightening around him, pumping himself harder.

" _Don't stop._ "

Okay, he was trying his best, but-?

"But I'm gonna-" he choked.

"Yeah, yeah, _inside._ "

"Fuck," Lance hissed. "Keith, you're so-"

"I'm-!"

Keith tightened around Lance and officially unhinged in front of his eyes. His release didn't shoot out like before but instead seeped into his hand, his cock twitching in his trembling grasp.

Lance buried his face against Keith's shoulder and let a loud moan of his own rip from his lips as he finished. Whatever; someone would've already heard them at that point so no point to stifling it.

His head was buzzing as Keith fell onto his back, dragging him down with him. He grunted, disoriented, and slumped against him.

"How was that?" he asked, self-doubt creeping into his mind as the afterglow faded and he rolled off next to him.

"...Pretty vanilla, mostly."

Lance's eyes snapped open. He yanked back and stared at Keith, who was beaming tiredly but _giddily._

"What?!"

"No, I liked it."

 The brunette relaxed, even smiled, and settled his face back against the juncture of Keith's neck and shoulder. He left a kiss there and felt him gasp and shudder.

"Hey, Keith?"

A tired groan was his response.

"Does this mean you're into _meee?_ "

Keith drew back, so Lance blinked his eyes open curiously to stare.

"....Just a little, and no idea why."

The raven wore an incredulous look, identical to the one he reacted to Lance's shock with at the table. A look that screamed, " _Really?_ "

"That's sarcasm, right?"

"Mostly."

"You're bad at sarcasm."

"Or you're just bad at reading that too? Hey, we should really shower."

"Together?"

"Before we do, come closer."

Keith beckoned. Lance quirked his eyebrow. As pretty as it was, he didn't trust the smirk on the raven's face.

"What, can't get enough of m-"

"I want to tell you something really important..."

Keith's breath tickled his ear and he instantly tensed. Was he really about to say that...?

"Try not to jerk off to me in there this time."

Officially dead. That's the story of Lance's death. The death of his pride. Keith didn't lie earlier; he killed him. Fucking Keith.


End file.
